Why does america try to blame people murdering people (and other crimes) on video games???

Question

I mean honsetly, I've been playing games since I was about 6 and I've played games where you're killing people and all that and I've never went out and murdered someone

i've heard several stories about some teenager killing someone or something and blaming it in GTA4

also with mass effect they was saying it was like a "hard core p**n" and there was a 2 second s*x scene that didn't even show b***s, a*s or anything they show worse on TV!

http://www.destructoid.com/thai-killer-claims-to-have-emulated-gta-iv-game-promptly-banned-98054.phtml

http://www.destructoid.com/plant-destruction-blamed-on-gta-iv-game-hysteria-officially-jumps-the-shark-98613.phtml

http://www.destructoid.com/arson-suspects-claim-gta-taught-them-to-make-molotov-cocktails-98790.phtml

Answer 1

because people, or most people, are idiots and make excuses for everything and cant take responsibility in their own hands

Answer 2

its not really america...its society in america and the attorneys that represent these cases and you're exactly right..its the parents buying or providing these kids with money to buy these games...blame the parents but the kids most of them teenagers should have a better perception of fantasy and reality

Answer 3

here is why. people are lazy, and point twards whatever sounds logical. i bought guitar hero 3, and not a week later, i acedentally swore infront of my parents. guess waht. they blamed guitar hero, even tho it has no swear words in it. people just want the results. not to search hard for them

Answer 4

Who else or what else are you going to blame?  God forbid you blame the person who committed the crime.  Can't do that, in court they find that person to be temporarily insane.  You can't blame the parents for everything either.  It used to be movies.  Prior to that they even tried to say cartoons.  They've said rap and heavy metal.  It's so much easier this way.

Answer 5

well they cant blame the parents for everything! its silly that people blame video games and tv for the youths "mistakes". im with you on this one. ive been watching horror movies since i was maybe 6 and i love them! i have never thought or even let it cross my mind, that i want to go out and slash someone up with a big knife. i also listen to some pretty hard core music too. if you know who icp is, then you already know about what they sing about! its just words, music and fun. ive never wanted to cut a rednecks head off and keep it under my computer desk. i guess what im getting at, is people always need to put the blame on someone else. even though they have never met the designer of the game, its still his/her fault.

Answer 6

Because nobody wants to know there is someone who simply does these  horrible act for no reason. People want answers, and when the answers don't satisfy them they look for something else. The easiest? Violent video games/violent movies, etc. Nobody wants take the responsibly, especially not the parents. But here's my counter-argument against them:

I grew up watching a whole bunch of horror movies (Halloween, Candyman, etc) and playing "violent" video games, but I never had the urge to kill someone nor have I committed a crime.

Second, how do you explain Jack the Ripper? They didn't have violent video games back then.

Some people just need to take responsibly for their actions.  

Answer 7

the fact that you've played violent video games does not mean you will definitely become a murderer, it simply makes you more likely to be one. naturally the number one factor in the lives of children and teenagers is their parents.

you might want to look up the Bobo doll experiment. it's observational learning. you see something, and--at such a young age--you're influenced by it.

Answer 8

I agree...I think it's the parents' fault. Some kids are naive and the parents shouldn't make it worse by buying their kids games like that, especially when the games are rated mature. When the kid does something stupid and it comes to light that the parents weren't doing their job, they try to save their asses by blaming the media [video games, TV,etc.].

Answer 9

parents are sometimes the reason.

but a lot of todays entertainment including video games have violence in them.  they blame it on video games because people [mostly younger people] see these things so much that they start to think its normal and ok.  when some commit a crime they even say "i saw it on a video game"

i've read many true stories like that.

Answer 10

Because we havent learnt to see the reasons why teenagers copy or act like the movies or games. Parents, media, government etc have a hand in it.

Answer 11

Well, because too many people back up religion, where all the real killing comes from.

Answer 12

America doesn't blame video games, white suburban mothers blame video games. No offense to you guys and gals who are from the suburbs.